DAN TUFFY/SONGS FROM DANCool grooves, a sultry sound and a genuinely idiosyncratic approach to creating music with a story to tell forms the finer stuff that seeps through the cracks of Dan Tuffys majestic songs. Hailed as a “downright masterpiece”his 2017 solo debut SONGS FROM DAN is a songwriting triumph. Dan currently lives in the Netherlands, making his show at Music By The Sea a one-off exclusive featuring an absolute super-band comprising some of the Australias most respected guns: Matt Walker on guitars with the amazing Lucie Thorne in duo harmony role. Originally from Australia and resident of the Netherlands since 1993, Dan Tuffy has been around. Back in Melbourne in the 80s, he was a founding member of popular psychedelic/folk cult group Wild Pumpkins at Midnight. Later he would become the driving force behind the eclectic rootsy trio Big Low (2002 – 2012) as well as being a founding member of one of the Netherlands most unique world music groups Parne Gadje and owner of independent label Smoked Recordings. ARIA award for Best Independent Album in 1988 in Australia, significant European tours in the 90’s, independent airplay and killer reviews for pretty much every project he’s been involved in this millennium.

Described by Musica Viva as ‘Australia’s most internationally successful piano trio’, the Streeton Trio was formed in 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland, from three of Australia’s leading young musicians. The trio was the first Australian ensemble to be selected for the prestigious European Chamber Music Academy, where it was ensemble-in-residence from 2010 to 2013. The trio has studied intensively with the world’s leading chamber musicians, including Gabor Takacs-Nágy, Hatto Beyerle, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Johannes Meissl, Ferenc Rados, Erich Höbarth, Philippe Graffin, Pascal Devoyon, Mihaela Martin and has performed extensively across Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, United Kingdom, Scandinavia, China, Australia, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates and Lithuania.

Simon Tedeschi is one of Australia’s most renowned classical pianists, recipient of prizes such as Symphony Australia’s Young Performer of the Year Award, the Legacy Award from the Creativity Foundation (USA), first prize in the Keyboard division of the Royal Overseas League Competition (UK), and a Centenary of Federation Medal. He has performed in major concert halls and for festivals throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia, and for world leaders including former US President George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama.

Tedeschi performs as soloist with orchestras including the Sydney Symphony, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (NZ), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Queensland, Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. Recent highlights include performances of Rachmaninov’s piano concerto no.4 with the Sydney Symphony and broadcast by Foxtel Arts; tours to China and the United Arab Emirates; a national tour of ‘Enoch Arden’ to His Majesty’s Theatre Perth, Adelaide Festival Centre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre and Sydney Opera House with John Bell AO OBE.

Tedeschi’s wide-ranging discography includes R. Strauss and Schumann on Enoch Arden (with John Bell AO OBE), Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Gershwin and Me , Gershwin: Take Two, and Tender Earth, and concerti by Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Mozart, all for ABC Classics/Universal Music Australia. In February 2018 ABC Classics will release ‘A Winter’s Tale’, an album of Schubert and Schumann with SSO Principal Viola, Roger Benedict.

“Out of the crashing waves of melodic energy [Tedeschi] emerged not as the triumphant hero but as someone very much at one with his surroundings — far more part of the orchestra, a fellow musician, than the flashy virtuoso... Tedeschi’s legato is astonishing ... giving Rachmaninov’s music a diamond-cut clarity” – Harriet Cunningham (reviewer for the SMH), March 2017​Program:Brahms - Intermezzi no.1, 2,3 op 117 Schubert - Four impromptus, op.90 Schubert - Piano sonata no.18 in G major D894 ‘Fantasy’

Brewed in Ireland and distilled in Australia, the Barleyshakes are a Celtic band with world music influences who combine intense energy, beautiful harmony and driving dance rhythms in their live performances. Adored throughout Australia and beyond for their “bent” Irish sound, they are winners of the Queensland Music Award for World Music.Ever since their inception in the 90’s in Dublin, the Barleyshakes have been turning heads. Their mission, to inject new life into Irish music while honouring the tradition past, was to become a life-long adventure for each member. Their live shows have taken them around the globe and they continue to take audiences on a joy filled ride wherever they perform.The band use fiddles, flutes, tine whistle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, vocals, bass, bodhran, and drums to create their truly wonderful Celtic sound. They have shared the stage with Lunasa, Metallica, Kila, Joe Cocker, Sharon Shannon, Altan, and Grada, to name a few.After over ten years together this ensemble know each other intensely and they communicate freely to create something fresh every time they perform.